avast! software provides complete virus protection for your computer. Antivirus engine is complemented by anti-spyware, firewall and antispam modules to protect you against phishing schemes, identity theft and internet-distributed web viruses. Automatic updates for greater user convenience and safety. Top user ratings among free antivirus software. The new avast! Free Antivirus 5.0 includes a spyware detection engine. To protect you from identity theft as well as viruses. avast! Pro Antivirus - better protection during web surfing. Full-featured antivirus software. Better than our free antivirus, especially for web surfing, but without the firewall and antispam included in avast! Internet Security. Also if you wish to customize your security, this is the recommended software.

avast! Internet SecurityActive internet users need greater protection for themselves as they shop and bank on-line. To secure against threats from infected web sites and the growing risk of identity theft, avast Internet security provides you with continuous protection from its layers of antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-rootkit protection, firewall and antispam.

Antivirus and anti-spyware engineState of the art scanning engine provides reliable protection against viruses, spyware and other forms of malicious software.

Real time anti-rootkit protectionUnique "on access" technology checks all kernel-mode drivers that the operating system is loading for signs of rootkit behavior. This enables even unknown rootkits to be detected and stopped before they can do any damage.

New avast! SandboxEnables potentially exploitable programs (such as web browsers) and/or suspicious executables to be run in a safe, virtual environment. The avast! Sandbox is unique as it runs on both 32 and 64bit platforms.

avast! Community IQMost samples we process come from sensors deployed throughout the avast! community in the Behavior shield and anti-rootkit modules. This is a unique source of data made possible only thanks to our huge user base. Most of the collected samples are analysed by a number of automated processes and only a small fraction of the samples need to be processed manually by our virus analysts.

New Code emulatorWhen a suspicious executable is encountered (during both on-demand and on-access scanning), avast! is able to emulate the programs code in an isolated environment. The code emulator is used for two purposes. First, it is used for generic unpacking. Secondly, it is used in the heuristics engine. Technically, this is done using dynamic translation, a method much faster than traditional emulation techniques.

New Heuristics engineavast! features a new heuristics engine designed to proactively detect malware undetectable with normal definitions. The heuristics engine is able to cover both binary (executable) and script malware.

Potentially unwanted programs detectionavast! now detects potentially unwanted programs, such as remote admin tools and commercial key loggers. Custom rules can be set for dealing with these types of programs.Additional protection

Silent FirewallThe firewall enables you to control incoming and outgoing traffic from your computer. Protection is based on heuristic and behavioral analysis, and a white list of known safe applications. There are three network settings which can be changed depending on the type of connection.

AntispamNew comprehensive SPAM and fraudulent message filter. It works as a plug-in to MS Outlook and a generic POP3/IMAP4 proxy for other email clients.Scanning

Boot-time scannerAllows you to scan your computer for infections before the operating system has started and before a virus can be activated (32-bit operating systems only).Command-line scannerEnables you to run a scan directly from the command line.

Wake-up for scanMicrosoft Windows is woken from sleep or hibernation mode, performs a scheduled scan, then returns back to sleep mode.Scheduled scanningAllows users to define the scan time and files to be scanned.

New avast! Intelligent ScannerCan reduce the number of required file scans by up to 80% through a white list of proven safe applications. Files identified as safe are not rescanned unless they change.Shields

New Behavior ShieldMonitors activity on your computer using a number of sensors (file system, registry and network based) and reports/blocks any suspicious behavior.Behavioral Honeypotsavast! sensors identify and monitor suspicious file activity on selected computers, automatically submitting files to the Virus Lab for additional analysis.File System ShieldReal-time scanning of opened/executed files.

Mail ShieldScans all incoming/outgoing e-mails for malware. For MS Outlook, a special plug-in is used. Other email clients are protected by a generic POP3/IMAP4/SMTP proxy. New in version 5, the proxy also supports scanning of SSL communication (gmail.com, sympatico.ca, .)

Network ShieldProvides protection against network-based viruses. The module has two main components: a URL blocker, designed to block malicious URLs (as defined by the Virus Lab), and a lightweight intrusion-detection system.

CPU optimizationNew Multi-threaded scanning optimizationavast! runs faster on new multi-core CPUs. A new avast! feature allows the splitting of large individual files between cores, accelerating the scanning process.

avast! Pro AntivirusFull-featured antivirus software. Better than our free antivirus, especially for web surfing, but without the firewall and antispam included in avast! Internet Security. Also if you wish to customize your security, this is the recommended software.* Continuous protection against viruses and spyware* Ensures all mails sent and received are clean* Keeps you protected from "chat" infections* Stops attacks from hijacked websites* Lets you safely browse suspicious websites or run unknown applications* Allows safe and uninterrupted gaming* Compatible with Windows XP, Vista and 7* New user interface